Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann

Recognising

–the important role the prison visiting committees should play in ensuring that the high standards of prisons in Ireland are maintained and that prisoners' rights are protected;

–the need for greater transparency with regard to the operations of Government and political appointments in particular;

–that there should be no objection to the appointment of political people to political positions;

Concerned at

–the phenomenal increase of 66% in the total cost of the prison visiting committees over the past three years and the 9.3% increase in the first ten months of 2002 alone;

–the massive divergence in the costs between committees and the inconsistency in the rates of increase;

–the propensity of committee members to live far from the prison they are assigned to visit;

Deploring

–the obvious party political bias in making appointments to committees;

–the clandestine manner in which appointments are made;

Demands that

–vacancies on prison visiting committees be advertised to the public;

–candidates be nominated by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on the basis of their skills in the areas of administration, law, criminology, human rights, social work, education and medicine;

–all nominations to prison visiting committees be vetted and approved by the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights before they are confirmed;